The microprocessor and other integrated circuits in a server generate a significant amount of heat which is exhausted from the computer using a computer fan.
A data center or “server farm” might contain hundreds of servers in racks, resulting in large amounts of heat that could interfere with operation of the servers (e.g., the circuitry on motherboards), if not dissipated.
For this reason, some organizations that maintain data centers locate them in geographic locations in cooler climes. However, those cooler climes can present problems of their own when environmental temperatures fall to levels that retard the operation of moving parts, such as hard disk drives, in servers.